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 LE VAILLANT LEVER 377 mouth," "Washington at the Battle of Mo- nongahela," " News from Lexington," "Ser- geant Jasper," and " Washington at Princeton." The " Washington crossing the Delaware " has been engraved. Among his latest works is " Westward the Star of Empire takes its Way," a large picture for one of the staircases in the capitol at Washington. LE VAILLANT, Francois, a French traveller, born in Paramaribo, Dutch Guiana, in 1753, died at Sezanne, France, Nov. 22, 1824. His father, a merchant and consul at Paramaribo, returned to Europe when his son was 10 years of age. For several years he studied natural history, and in order to study the habits of birds in nature went to the Cape of Good Hope, where he arrived March 29, 1781. Af- ter making an expedition into the interior of Africa, penetrating as far N. as the tropic of Capricorn, he returned to Paris in 1785, and published a narrative of his adventures in two successive works : Voyage dans Vinterieur de VAfrique, de 1781 a 1783 (Paris, 1790), and jSecond voyage dans Vinterieur de VAfrique (Paris, 1796). His African adventures were greatly though unjustly discredited. Though not concerned in politics, he was arrested as suspect in 1793, and owed his escape from death to the downfall of Robespierre. He passed the remainder of his life on a small estate in Champagne, and published during this time 12 volumes, mostly folio, on the birds of Africa, in magnificent style with costly illustrations. A part of his valuable collection of animal specimens was purchased by the French govern- ment, and the rest was sold in Holland. LEVANT, a term used by the seafaring and commercial people of the countries bordering on the Mediterranean to designate the portion of that sea which washes the shores of Asia Minor and Syria, and the ports of Smyrna, Alexandretta, Beyrout, Acre, &c., which in the local dialect are called Scale di Leimnte. The heterogeneous population of those marts, who speak in their intercourse with Europeans the language known as the lingua Franca, are styled Levantines. The term Levante, which in Italian signifies " the East," was first used by the Venetians and Genoese. It is some- times used in a broader sense, and applied to all the regions east of Italy, as far as the Eu- phrates and the Nile. LEVEQUE, Jean Charles, a French philosopher, born in Bordeaux, Aug. 7, 1818. After teach- ing philosophy in the colleges at Angouleme, Besancon, Athens, Toulouse, and Nancy, he was called in 1856 to the college de France at Paris, where in 1861 he succeeded Barthelemy Saint-Hilaire as titular professor of Greek and Latin philosophy. In 1865 he became member, and in 1873 vice president of the academy of moral and political sciences. Several French academies have awarded prizes to his princi- pal work on aesthetics, La science du lean etu- diee dans ses principes, ses applications et son Jiistoire (2 vols., 1860). LEVER. See MECHANICS. LEVER, Charles James, an Irish novelist, born in Dublin, Aug. 31, 1806, died in Trieste, June 1, 1872. He was educated as a physician, studying first at Trinity college and afterward in Gottingen. In 1832, during the prevalence of the cholera in Ireland, he was appointed medical superintendent of an extensive district comprising Londonderry and other places, and treated the disease with remarkable success. In March, 1834, he sent the first chapters of " The Confessions of Harry Lorrequer " to the "Dublin .University Magazine." As the tale became more popular each month, he worked with renewed energy, but kept his secret from even his brother. Notwithstanding its success, he did not at first think of adopting letters as a profession, but continued his medical prac- tice till 1837, when he received the appoint- ment of physician to the British embassy at Brussels. Here he finished "Harry Lorre- quer," and accepting as true the favorable judgment of the public concerning it, he adopted the title as his pseudonyme, and de- voted himself to literature. This work, re- markable for vivacity and rollicking humor, fulness of incident, ever-shifting scenes, and happy pictures of Irish life and manners, was the precursor of a large number of novels dis- tinguished chiefly by the same characteristics. In many of these the incidents and characters are connected with the military profession, and the favorite type of a hero is a young dra- goon or guardsman full of animal spirits and love of adventure, not a few of whose exploits are said to be founded on the personal experi- ence of the author, who in his youth was noted for his daring spirit and his skill in riding and breaking horses. In March, 1840, "Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon," was begun in the " Dublin University Magazine." In April, 1842, Lever accepted the editorship of the magazine, and fixed his residence in the neigh- borhood of Dublin ; but after three years the work became distasteful to him on account of the political strife engendered by the position, and he resigned and retired to the continent. After spending a short time in the Tyrol, he established himself in Florence. In 1858 he was appointed by Lord Derby vice consul at Spezia, and in 1867 was transferred to Trieste as consul, which post he held until his death. The university of Dublin conferred on him the degree of LL. D. in 1871. Lever's later works exhibit a marked improvement over his earlier productions, being more artistic and^ thought- ful, and less dependent on startling incidents. Some of them contain admirable sketches of character. His principal novels are : " Harry Lorrequer" (1840); "Charles O'Malley" (1841); " Jack Hinton" (1843); "Tom Burke of Ours" (1844); "Arthur O'Leary" (1844); "The O'Donoghue" (1845); "St. Patrick's Eve "(1845); "Tales of the Trains" (1845) ; "The Knight of Gwynne " (1847); "Diary and Notes of Horace Templeton" (1849);